Wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication network and software upgrading method

ABSTRACT

A base station control portion selects one or multiple signals in accordance with the state of radio waves from signals received through multiple communication paths. A wireless communication apparatus communicates with a wireless terminal and a wired communication network at multiple frequencies. In response to a request for software upgrading from a network management device, the wireless communication apparatus selects one frequency, controls the state of transmission waves of a wireless interface such that a communication path in which a communication service is being provided can be switched to another communication network without interruption, rewrites software for each wireless interface to software received through a wired interface in advance, and returns the state of transmission waves of the wireless interface. Thus, the software can be upgraded without blackouts of the communication service to the wireless terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No.12/271,071, filed Nov. 14, 2008; which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 11/798,517, filed May 15, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,647,039;which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/037,283, filed Jan.19, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,310,519; which is a continuation-in-partapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/636,806, filed Aug. 8, 2003,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,447,497, the subject matter of which is incorporatedby reference herein. Applicants hereby claim the right of priority basedon Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-258554, filed in Japan on Sep.6, 2004 and in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2003-117281, filed inJapan on Apr. 21, 2003 and 2003-157584, filed in Japan on Jun. 3, 2003,the subject matter of which is also incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus, awireless communication network and a software upgrading method and, inparticular, to a wireless communication apparatus, a wirelesscommunication network and a software upgrading method for upgradingsoftware without the blackouts of communication services.

Wireless communication networks including wireless terminals andwireless communication apparatus have been introduced rapidly inaddition to conventional wired communication networks. In the fields ofwireless communication networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)communication networks for multiplying voice signals, for example, in atime division manner for communication have been adopted, and CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) communication networks forcode-multiplying voice signals, for example, with a spread code will bewidely spread from now on. Thus, communications with any one can beperformed any time and anywhere. These kinds of communication networkscan operate by software included in each communication apparatus withina network and provide users of wireless terminals with various kinds ofcommunication services such as voice communication and datacommunication. Therefore, the software for the communication apparatusmust be upgraded properly every time the contents of each ofcommunication services provided by the communication network advances.

A wireless communication apparatus is used for a wireless communicationnetwork and is called base station. The wireless communication is aninterface apparatus for a wireless terminal and a communication network.The software as described above must be upgraded as required forproviding various kinds of communication services. Therefore, varioussoftware upgrading methods have been proposed (such as JP-A-10-63498 andU.S. Pat. No. 2,980,201 or JP-A-10-320210). Upgrading the software forproviding communication services is required in a general communicationnetwork. Therefore, software upgrading methods (such as JP-A-7-319683and JP-A-2001-56756) have been proposed which allows the upgrading ofsoftware during the communication system (communication network) is inuse without loss of reliability of the communication network (such asJP-A-7-319683 and JP-A-2001-56756).

Conventionally, a system for mutually connecting a wirelesscommunication network and another communication network has been knownfor implementing diversity and hand-over for selectively synthesizingsignals excellent in conversation quality based on the signal exchangedwith plural base stations (such as JP-A-2001-16227). In a CDMAcommunication network, a soft hand-over technology (such as “3G TR25.832V4.0.0”, issued by 3GPP, March 2001, Section 5.2.1) has been known forsynthesizing signals from communications with plural base stations andselecting a communication path when a base station is changed in orderto switch a communication path without blackouts.

In a general communication network, reliability is important in order toprevent a communication blackout. Therefore, a method for upgradingsoftware set in inactive hardware has been adopted by providing hardwarewith redundancy as disclosed in JP-A-7-319683 and JP-A-2001-56756, forexample. Thus, the software for providing communication services and forcontrolling operations of a communication network can be upgraded duringthe software is in use.

On the other hand, in a wireless communication network, communicationwith wireless terminals is performed within an area where radio wavesfrom a base station can reach. The area is called cellular. A cellularof several km radius is generally used. In other words, the number ofaccommodatable users and covered area are much smaller than those of aconventional wired communication network (or a switched network).Therefore, in order to provide communication services widely, many basestations must be provided widely. Thus, the cost efficiency of thecommunication network is significantly lost by providing these many basestations with redundancy like the wired communication network facilityas disclosed above. Furthermore, plural frequency bands and CDMA spreadcodes must be assigned. Thus, the limited resource is wasted, and thenumber of users is reduced, which also reduces the serviceability.Therefore, as disclosed in JP-A-10-63498 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,201 orJP-A-10-320210, for example, a method is generally known for selecting abase station in accordance with a proper rule and terminating acommunication service in the base station for upgrading software. Forexample, an operator selects a base station having lower traffic in atime zone such as at midnight and upgrades software by protectingimportant calls and placing the base station off-line.

However, the method will impose larger loads on the operator formanaging a wireless communication network in future, and the supply ofeconomical wireless communication networks and communication servicesmay be difficult. For example, a wireless communication network may bewidely spread and the number of terminals used by users may increase. Inthis case, these terminals are used while moving, and the traffic ofeach base station always changes without blackouts. Furthermore, acommunication network may be more used without recognizing timedifferences in a more global communication network, and the traffic maynot be always reduced at midnight in Japan. Therefore, the selection ofa base station having low traffic and the protection of important callsas described above may be difficult, and the loads on operators mayincrease. Furthermore, from users' point of view, the number ofcommunication service blackouts (or communication disconnection) due tosoftware upgrading may increase. Furthermore, the level of reliabilityand serviceability may decrease because the supply of new servicesdelays due to the delay of the software upgrading. Therefore, a wirelesscommunication apparatus, wireless communication network and method foroperating them (software upgrading method) are desired for upgradingsoftware of so-called on-line communication apparatus, which eliminatesthe blackouts of a communication service in use in a wirelesscommunication network including wireless communication apparatus (basestations) without redundancy and which can provide the latestcommunication services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of these issues, it is an object of the invention to provide awireless communication apparatus, a wireless communication network and asoftware upgrading method, which can upgrade software in the wirelesscommunication apparatus within the wireless communication network evenwhile the wireless communicating network is providing variouscommunication services. It is another object of the invention to providea wireless communication apparatus, a wireless communication network anda software upgrading method, which can upgrade software withoutblackouts of communication services being provided. It is another objectof the invention that these apparatus and method can be achieved withsimple and economical constructions and steps. It is another object ofthe invention to achieve these objects even when the invention isapplied to a highly-integrated and high-density apparatus.

According to the invention, in order to achieve these objects, a softhandover technology (as disclosed in “3G TR25.832 V4.0.0”, issued by3GPP, March 2001, Section 5.2.1”, for example) provided for a CDMAcommunication network is used to provide a wireless communicationapparatus and a wireless communication network and a method foroperating them. More specifically, in a CDMA communication network,communication paths are switched from one terminal to plural basestations. One having good quality of communication is selected from thebase stations and is used for communication actually with the otherparty. Thus, the state of the transmission wave of the base station inwhich software will be upgraded can be controlled. Then, thecommunication path providing communication services can be switched fromthe base station to another base station without blackouts such that astate where the base station no longer provides communication servicescan be obtained. Under this condition, the software is upgraded, and thestate of the transmission wave is returned to the original state afterthe software upgrading. The base station selection is repeated inaccordance with a predetermined rule such that software in base stationswithin a wireless communication network can be upgraded without theblackouts of communication services.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided awireless communication apparatus communicating between a wirelessterminal and a wired communication network by using multiple wirelesscommunication paths having different frequencies within ahandover-possible wireless communication network, the wirelesscommunication apparatus comprising:

a wired interface for communicating with the wired communicationnetwork;

a first wireless interface for communicating with the wireless terminalat a first frequency;

a first communication processing portion for performing processing forproviding a communication service to the wireless terminal at the firstfrequency through the first wireless interface and the wired interface;

a second wireless interface for communicating with the wireless terminalat a second frequency;

a second communication processing portion for performing processing forproviding a communication service to the wireless terminal at the secondfrequency through the second wireless interface and the wired interface;and

a control portion for controlling the wireless communication apparatus,

wherein the control portion:

selects one of the first and second frequencies sequentially and changesthe state of transmission waves of the first and/or second wirelessinterfaces in accordance with the selected frequency such that acommunication path in which a communication service is being providedcan be switched to another communication path without instantaneousinterruption;

upgrades defined software to software received through the wiredinterface in advance; and

returns the state of transmission waves of the first and/or secondwireless interfaces after the software upgrading.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided awireless communication apparatus having sectors communicating atmultiple respective frequencies between a wireless terminal and a wiredcommunication network, by using multiple wireless communication pathshaving different frequencies and multiple wireless communication pathsin different sectors within a handover-possible wireless communicationnetwork, the wireless communication apparatus comprising:

a wired interface for communicating with the wired communicationnetwork;

multiple wireless interfaces, one for each sector, for communicatingwith the wireless terminal at multiple frequencies;

multiple communication processing portions, one for each frequency,connected to the wireless interfaces, respectively, for performingprocessing for providing a communication service to a wireless terminalat a predetermined frequency through the wireless interface and thewired interface; and

a control portion for controlling the wireless communication apparatus,

wherein the control portion:

(a): selects at least one of multiple frequencies sequentially andchanges the state of transmission waves of the multiple wirelessinterfaces for the selected frequency such that a communication path canbe switched to another communication path without instantaneousinterruption; and

upgrades software defined in the communication processing portion inaccordance with the selected frequency to software received through thewired interface in advance;

returns the state of transmission waves for the selected sector afterthe software upgrading; and

(b): selects at least one of multiple sectors sequentially and changesthe state of transmission waves of the wireless interface in accordancewith the selected sector such that a communication path can be switchedto another communication path without instantaneous interruption; and

upgrades software defined in the wireless interface in accordance withthe selected sector to software received through the wired interface inadvance; and

returns the state of transmission waves for the selected sector afterthe software upgrading.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided awireless communication network which is handover-possible, the wirelesscommunication network comprising:

a wireless communication apparatus communicating between a wirelessterminal and a wired communication network by using multiple wirelesscommunication paths having different frequencies;

a control device having a handover unit for selecting one or multiplesignals in accordance with the state of radio waves from signalsreceived through multiple definable communication paths andcommunicating the wireless communication apparatus; and

a network management device for managing a network,

wherein the network management device sends software to upgrade and anupgrade request to the wireless communication apparatus, and

each of the wireless communication apparatus:

receives the software and upgrade request sent from the networkmanagement device;

selects at least one of multiple frequencies sequentially in accordancewith the received upgrade request, and changes the state of transmissionwaves of the selected frequency such that a communication path in whicha communication service is being provided can be switched by the controldevice to another communication path without instantaneous interruption;

upgrades defined software to the received software; and

returns the state of transmission waves after the software upgrading.

According to a forth aspect of the invention, there is provided awireless communication network which is handover-possible, the wirelesscommunication network comprising:

a wireless communication apparatus having multiple wave signalprocessing portions, one for each sector, for communicating with awireless terminal at multiple frequencies, and multiple communicationprocessing portions, one for each frequency, connected to the wavesignal processing portions, respectively, and having sectorscommunicating at the respective multiple frequencies between thewireless terminal and a wired communication network by using multiplewireless communication paths having different frequencies and multiplewireless communication paths having different sectors;

a control device having a handover unit selecting one or multiplesignals in accordance with the state of radio waves from signalsreceived by multiple definable communication paths and communicatingwith the wireless communication apparatus; and

a network management device for managing the network,

wherein the network management device sends software to upgrade and anupgrade request to the wireless communication apparatus, and

each of the wireless communication apparatus:

receives the software and upgrade request sent from the networkmanagement device;

(a): sequentially selects at least one of multiple frequencies inaccordance with the received upgrade request and changes the state oftransmission waves of the multiple wave signal processing portions forthe selected frequency such that a communication path in which acommunication service is being provided can be switched to anothercommunication path by the control device without instantaneousinterruption;

upgrades software defined in the communication processing portions inaccordance with the selected frequency to the received software; and

returns the state of transmission waves for the selected frequency afterthe software upgrading; and

(b): sequentially selects at least one of multiple sectors and changesthe state of transmission waves of the wave signal processing portion inaccordance with the selected sector such that a communication path inwhich a communication service is being provided can be switched toanother communication path by the control device without instantaneousinterruption;

upgrades software defined in the wave signal processing portion inaccordance with the selected sector to the received software; and

returns the state of transmission waves for the selected sector afterthe software upgrading.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided asoftware upgrading method for upgrading software in a wirelesscommunication apparatus in a handover-possible wireless communicationnetwork, the network including a wireless communication apparatuscommunicating between a wireless terminal and a wired communicationnetwork by using multiple wireless communication paths having differentfrequencies, a control device having a handover unit for selecting oneor multiple signals in accordance with the state of radio waves fromsignals received through multiple definable communication paths andcommunicating with the wireless communication apparatus, and a networkmanagement device managing a network,

the method comprising the steps of:

sending software to upgrade and an upgrade request to the wirelesscommunication apparatus by the network management device;

receiving the software and upgrade request sent from the networkmanagement device by the wireless communication apparatus;

selecting at least one of multiple frequencies sequentially inaccordance with the received upgrade request and changing the state oftransmission waves of the selected frequency by the control device suchthat a communication path in which a communication service is beingprovided can be switched to another communication path withoutinstantaneous interruption by the wireless communication apparatus;

upgrading defined software to the received software by the wirelesscommunication apparatus; and

returning the state of transmission waves after the software upgradingby the wireless communication apparatus.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided asoftware upgrading method for upgrading software in a wirelesscommunication apparatus in a handover-possible wireless communicationnetwork, the network including a wireless communication apparatus havingmultiple wave signal processing portions, one for each sector, forcommunicating with a wireless terminal at multiple frequencies andmultiple communication processing portions, one for each frequency,connected to the wave signal processing portions, respectively, andhaving sectors communicating at the respective multiple frequenciesbetween the wireless terminal and a wired communication network by usingmultiple wireless communication paths having different frequencies andmultiple wireless communication paths having different sectors;

a control device having a handover unit selecting one or multiplesignals in accordance with the state of radio waves from signalsreceived by multiple definable communication paths and communicatingwith the wireless communication apparatus; and

a network management device for managing the network,

the method comprising the steps of:

sending software to upgrade and an upgrade request to the wirelesscommunication apparatus by the network management device;

receiving the software and upgrade request sent from the networkmanagement device by the wireless communication apparatus;

(a): by the wireless communication apparatus,

sequentially selecting at least one of multiple frequencies inaccordance with the received upgrade request and changing the state oftransmission waves of the multiple wave signal processing portions forthe selected frequency such that a communication path in which acommunication service is being provided can be switched to anothercommunication path by the control device without instantaneousinterruption;

upgrading software defined in the communication processing portions inaccordance with the selected frequency to the received software; and

returning the state of transmission waves for the selected frequencyafter software upgrading; and

(b): by the wireless communication apparatus,

sequentially selecting at least one of multiple sectors and changing thestate of transmission waves of the wave signal processing portion inaccordance with the selected sector such that a communication path inwhich a communication service is being provided can be switched toanother communication path by the control device without instantaneousinterruption;

upgrading software defined in the wave signal processing portion inaccordance with the selected sector to the received software; and

returning the state of transmission waves for the selected sector afterthe software upgrading.

According to the invention, a wireless communication apparatus, awireless communication network and a software upgrading method can beprovided which can upgrade software in the wireless communicationapparatus within the wireless communication network even while thewireless communicating network is providing various communicationservices. Furthermore, according to the invention, a wirelesscommunication apparatus, a wireless communication network and a softwareupgrading method can be provided which can upgrade software withoutblackouts of communication services being provided. Furthermore,according to the invention, these apparatus and method can be achievedwith simple and economical constructions and steps. Furthermore, theinvention is applicable to various highly-integrated and high-densitybase station apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a construction and operational exampleof a wireless communication network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation control portion;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a networkmanagement device;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a construction of a wirelesscommunication network and an operational example where a transmissionradio wave of a base station is reduced;

FIG. 6 is an operational explanatory diagram for describing an exampleof a software upgrading operation in a base station;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing an example of an operation forselecting a base station where software will be upgraded;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for describing a base station selectingoperation;

FIG. 9 is another explanatory diagram for describing a base stationselecting operation;

FIG. 10 is another explanatory diagram for describing a base stationselecting operation;

FIG. 11 is another explanatory diagram for describing a base stationselecting operation;

FIG. 12 is another explanatory diagram for describing a base stationselecting operation;

FIG. 13 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of a base station for upgrading software;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of a wireless communication network in which one base stationhas plural sectors;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation having plural sectors;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a construction of a wirelesscommunication network in which one base station has plural sectors andshowing another operational example;

FIG. 17 is an operational explanatory diagram for describing an exampleof a software upgrading operation in a base station;

FIG. 18 is an operational explanatory diagram showing a partial detailof an operational example for upgrading software in a base station;

FIG. 19 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of a sector control portion within a base station for upgradingsoftware; and

FIG. 20 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of an apparatus control portion within a base station in whichsoftware is upgraded.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of a wireless communication network in which one base stationhas multiple sectors and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation having multiple sectors and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a construction and anotheroperational example of a wireless communication network in which onebase station has multiple sectors and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 24 is an operational explanatory diagram for describing an exampleof a software upgrading operation of a base station;

FIG. 25 is an operational explanatory diagram showing partial details ofthe operational example of a base station for software upgrading;

FIG. 26 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of a wave signal processing portion within a base station forsoftware upgrading;

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of a wireless communication network in which one base stationhas multiple sectors and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing another construction example of abase station having multiple sectors and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of a wireless communication network in which one base stationhas multiple sections and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of a wireless communication network in which one base stationhas multiple sectors and multiple frequencies;

FIG. 31 is an operational explanatory diagram illustrating an example ofan operation for upgrading software in a base station;

FIG. 32 is an operational explanatory diagram showing a partial detailof an operational example of a base station having software to upgrade;

FIG. 33 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of a sector wave signal processing portion within a base stationhaving software to upgrade;

FIG. 34 is an operational explanatory diagram showing partial details ofan operational example of a base station having software to upgrade; and

FIG. 35 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of a sector wave signal processing portion within a base stationhaving software to upgrade.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Constructions of a wireless communication apparatus and wirelesscommunication network and a software upgrading method according to thisembodiment will be described in detail below with reference to drawings.

[First Software Upgrading]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a wirelesscommunication network according to this embodiment. A wirelesscommunication network 10 implements communication between terminals byhaving a construction mentioned below.

Plural mobile terminals MS1 300-1 and MS2 300-2 and plural wirelesscommunication apparatus (called base station hereinafter) BS1 110-1 toBS8 110-8 are connected by a wireless communication path, not shown.More specifically, each base station BS has a radio wave reachable areacalled cellular. Here, cellars 100-1 to 100-8 are shown. Each basestation BS performs wireless communication by using a terminal MS andCDMA, for example. Though not shown, the cellars of base stationsoverlap with each other, and for example, communication paths 900-2 and910-2 through plural base stations BS1 110-1 and BS2 110-2 can be setfrom the terminal MS1 300-1. In the description for this embodiment, anarea where these plural base stations BS1 110-1 to BS8 110-8 cancommunication with the terminal MS is called mobile communicationnetwork 400.

The base stations BS-1 110-1 to BS8 110-8 of the mobile communicationnetwork 400-1 are connected with a base station control portion (controldevice) 200-1 through a main signal communication path 500-1. The basestation control portion 200 includes a diversity handover unit DHT 210for performing soft handover determined by “3GPP TR25.832 Section 5.2.1,for example, as described in detail later. The base station controlportion 200 selects one communication path having good communicationquality from plural communication paths 900 and 910 for communication.

When the destination of the communication from the terminal MS1 300-1 isin the same mobile communication network 400-1, the base station controlportion 200-1 returns a signal 930 selected by the DHT 210 to one of thebase stations BS1 110-1 to BS8 110-8 controlled by the base stationcontrol portion 200-1 and communicates with the destination terminal MS.On the other hand, when the destination is in another mobilecommunication network 400-2 (details of which is substantially the sameas those of the mobile communication network 400-1 and will not bedescribed herein), the base station control portion 200-1 exchangessignals 930-2 by using the base station control portion 200-2 and themobile communication network 400-2 through a communication network 150for connecting the base station control portions 200. Thus, the basestation control portion 200-1 can communicate with the destinationterminal. The communication network 150 may be any one of a publicnetwork, an exclusive line network and a private network. The mobilecommunication network 400-2 may be a so-called fixed network including awired communication network and terminals fixed in the wiredcommunication network.

The network management device 250 is connected with the base station BS110 and the base station control portions 200 in the communicationnetwork 10 through a control signal communication path 600. The controlsignal communication path 600 exchanges control signals for operationsadministration maintenance and provisioning (OAM & P). For example, thenetwork management device 250 manages and controls the entire facilityof the communication network 10 by upgrading software in the basestation 110. The number of base station BS 110, base station controlportion 200 and network managing device 250 is not limited to the numbershown in FIG. 1 but may be any number.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation in a communication network. The base station 110 has aconstruction mentioned below. The base station connects betweenterminals and the base station control portion and communicates with thenetwork managing device.

When the base station 110 receives, at an antenna 119, a signal (wavesignal) from the terminal MS 300 through a wireless communication path,not shown, a wireless interface (IF) unit 116 performs terminationprocessing such as the conversion of the wave signal to an electricsignal. A communication processing unit 117 performs processing (such ascommunication processing for call controls) on the signal after thetermination processing in order to perform various communicationservices. A line interface (IF) unit 118 matches the interface with thebase station control portion 200. Then, the signal is sent to the basestation control portion 200 through a main signal communication path500. The base station 110 sends the signal from the base station controlportion 200 to the terminal MS 300 by following steps in the oppositedirection of the above-described processing.

The CPU 111 of the base station 110 controls the entire base station 110by using a control program stored in the memory 112 and data (such asinformation on terminals) required for operating the wirelesscommunication network 10. In this case, the data is stored in a storagedevice 113. These units are connected through an internal bus 115. AnI/O 114 connected to the internal bus 115 is an interface with thenetwork managing device 250 and exchanges, through a control signalcommunication path 600, a control signal (or command signal) and variouskinds of data required for control of the operation and maintenance ofthe communication network 10. Here, the I/O 114 may be removed and themain signal communication path 500 may be used to add these controlsignal and data to the signals exchanged through the main signalcommunication path 500. Then, the resulting signals may be exchangedthrough a line IF unit 118.

Upon the upgrading of communication services provided in the wirelesscommunication network 10, the CPU 111 of the base station 110 upgradessoftware (such as a control program) stored in the memory 112 orfirmware (such as a control program) stored in the wireless IF unit 116,communication processing unit 117 and line IF unit 118 by followingsteps and performing operations mentioned below and by keeping the basestation in use (in operation or at on-line state). The operation forupgrading software and/or firmware while the base station is being usedmay be called on-line upgrading hereinafter.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a construction example of the basestation control portion. The base station control portion 200 has aconstruction mentioned below. The base station control portion 200connects a communication network 150 for connecting base station controlportions 200 and a base station and controls the base station 110.

The base station control portion 200 implements the communication of thebase stations by connecting plural line IF units 206-1 to 206-n, pluralline IF units 208-1 to 208-m and plural diversity handover units DHT210-1 and 210-2 through a switch 207. In this case, the plural line IFunits 206-1 to 206-n are interfaces with the base stations 110. Theplural line IF unit 208-1 to 208-m are interfaces with the communicationnetwork 150 (see FIG. 1) The plural diversity handover units DHT 210-1and 210-2 perform soft handover processing provided by the 3GPPstandard, for example (see “3G TR25.832 V4.0.0”, issued by 3GPP, March2001, Section 5.2.1, for example). The numbers of the line IF unit 208and the DHT 210 depend on the size of the communication network and maybe single.

The CPU 201 of the base station control portion 200 controls the entirebase station control portions 200 and the base stations 110 connected tothe base station control portions 200 by using a control program storedin the memory 202 and data (such as information on terminals and basestations) required for operations of the wireless communication network10 and stored in the storage device 203. These units are connectedthrough an internal bus 205.

The memory 202 or storage device 203 temporally stores programs (insoftware or firmware) required for the on-line upgrading in the basestations 110. The I/O 204 connected to the internal bus 205 is aninterface with a network managing device 250 and exchanges, through thecontrol signal communication path 600, control signals (such as commandsignals) and/or various kinds of data required for the control over theoperations and maintenance of the wireless communication network 10. TheI/O 204 may be removed and the main signal communication path 500, forexample, may be used. In this case, these control signals and data areadded to signals exchanged through the main signal control path 500 andmay be exchanged through the circuit IF unit 206 or 208.

Next, the handover will be described. According to this embodiment, thebase station control portion 200 implements soft handover processingprovided by the 3GPP standard (see “3G TR25.832 V4.0.0”, issued by 3GPP,March 2001, Section 5.2.1), for example. The specific operation will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Here, the DHT 210 mayimplement diversity handover (soft handover) by using the constructionand method disclosed in JP-A-2001-16227 (the DHT 210 may correspond to aDH 30 in drawings in the publication). The publication discloses aconstruction and method for ATM but the same construction and method canbe used for non-ATM signals. Therefore, the wireless communicationapparatus and wireless communication network according to the inventionare not limited to those for ATM signals.

Signals from the terminal MS1 300-1 reaches the base station controlportion 200 through at least two base stations. For example, in FIG. 1,a signal reaches the base station control portion 200-1 through thecommunication paths 900-2 and 910-2. The base station control portion200 inputs at least two signals received at the line IF 206 to the sameDHT 210-1 or 210-2 through the switch 207.

The DHT 210 selects one of the received signal from the wirelesscommunication path having a better wave condition based on theinformation on the state of the wireless communication path included inthe input, at least two signals. For example, the DHT 210 selects asignal from the communication path 910-2 having a better wave conditionfrom the signals received through the communication paths 900-2 and910-2 when the wave condition of the base station BS1 110-1 is bad. Thesignal selected by the DHT 210 is output to the destination through theswitch 207 and the line IF 206 or 208. More specifically, when thedestination is in the same mobile communication network 400, theselected signal is output to the base station 110 of the destinationthrough the line IF 206. Otherwise, the selected signal 930-2 (FIG. 1)is output to the communication network 150 (FIG. 1) through the line IF208. The DHT 210 may synthesize plural received signals as required.

The DHT 210 stores the selection result (the base station 110 that theselected signal comes from) in the memory 202 or storage device 203 ascall information such that the information can be used as informationfor selecting the base station for software upgrading in the basestation 110, which will be described later. Alternatively, a paththrough the line IF 206 or a path through the network managing apparatus250 in the I/O 204 may be used to notify the selection result to thebase stations 110 having sent the signals and/or the network managingapparatus 250. Then, the selection information may be stored as callinformation in the memory 112/252 or the storage device 113/253 of thebase stations 110 and/or the network managing apparatus 250.

The call information stored in the memory 202 or storage device 203 maybe created and be stored based on the control signal for call settingand/or disconnection actually exchanged between the base station 110 andthe base station control portion 200. In this case, since the basestation 110 itself can manage the call state, the selection result (callinformation) from the base station control portion 200 does not have tobe notified to the base stations 110.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a construction example of the networkmanagement device. The network management apparatus 250 has aconstruction mentioned below. The network management device 250communicates with and controls the base stations 110 and/or the basestation control portion 200 through the control signal communicationpath 600.

The network management device 250 manages the maintenance and operationsof the entire wireless communication network 10 including plural mobilecommunication networks 400 each including plural base stations 110. Modespecifically, the network management device 250 includes, for example,plural I/O 254, a CPU 251, a memory 252, a storage device 253, akeyboard 256 and a monitor 257. These are connected in an internal bus255.

The I/O 254 is a communication interface for the base stations 110and/or base station control portion 200 in the wireless communicationnetwork 10. The CPU 251 controls the entire network managing apparatus250 and exchanges control signals (such as command signals) and/or datathrough the I/O 254 and also maintains and operates the entire mobilecommunication network 400 including the base station 110.

The memory 252 stores operational programs, for example, of the CPU 251.The storage device 253 stores data (such as information on terminals andbase stations) required for operating the wireless communication network10 in the network management device 250 and stores software and/orfirmware newly upgraded in the base stations 110. The keyboard 256 is aninput unit for inputting instructions from an operator (such as amaintenance staff). The monitor 257 is a display unit for notifying theoperator of the operation state of the wireless communication network10.

After the software and/or firmware to be upgraded online are stored inthe storage device 253 in accordance with the instruction from theoperator, for example, the online upgrading in the base stations 110 aresupported by following steps mentioned below.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a construction and operational exampleof a wireless communication network where the transmission waves of thebase stations BS1 110-1 and BS8 110-8 are lower than those in FIG. 1. InFIG. 1, the cellular 100-1 of the base station BS 1 110-1 overlaps withthe cellars 100-2 to 100-7 of the adjacent base stations BS2 110-2 toBS7 110-7. On the other hand, in the state as shown in FIG. 5, thecellar 100-1 is reduced due to the decrease in transmission wave of thebase station BS1 110-1 and does not overlap with the other cellars.Similarly, the cellular 100-8 of the base station BS8 110-8 does notoverlap with the cellulars 100-2 and 100-3 of the base stations BS2110-2 and BS3 110-3.

Thus, the terminal MS1 300-1 cannot set the communication path 900-2with the base station BS1 110-1 and only can set the communication pathwith the base station BS2 110-2. The terminal MS1 300-1 selects thecommunication path 900-2 having better communication quality in FIG. 1.However, the communication path 900-2 cannot be set under the conditionas shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, the communication path 910-2 is switchedfrom the communication path 900-2 by the DHT 210-2 of the base stationcontrol portion 200-1. Similarly, the communication path 900-1 isswitched to the communication path 910-1 for the terminal MS2. The basestation control portion 200-1 communicates with the destination terminalby using the signals 920-1 and 920-2 from the switched communicationpath.

By controlling the transmission waves of the base stations as describedabove, the communication path being supplying a communication servicescan be switched without blackouts from a specific base station to theadjacent base station. Then, the base station no longer provides thecommunication service. Under this condition, software upgrading isperformed, and the transmission waves are returned to the original stateafter the software upgrading. In this case, the base station in whichthe software will be upgraded is repeatedly selected in accordance witha predetermined rule, and the above-described processing is performed onthe selected base station. Thus, the software upgrading in base stationsin the wireless communication network can be implemented withoutblackouts of communication services.

FIG. 6 is an operational explanatory diagram for describing an exampleof a software upgrading operation in a base station. First of all, inaccordance with a predetermined rule, the network management device 250selects base stations in which software will be upgraded (grouping step7-1). A group of the base stations selected in the step 7-1 is calledbase station group 1 (800-1). The details of the base station selectionwill be described later. When the network management device 250 requests(step 7-2) for transferring software to the base station group 1, thebase stations belonging to the base station group 1 (800-1) obtain (step7-3) new software from the network management device 250 and sendsacknowledgement of transferring software to the network managementdevice 250 (step 7-4). The network management device 250 forbids (step7-5) the base stations (800-x) other than those in the base stationgroup 1 (800-1) performing a service stopping operation (step 7-5) andsends a request for software upgrading to the base station group 1(800-1) (step 7-6). The step 7-5 may be omitted.

The base stations belonging to the base station group 1 (800-1)gradually decreases transmission power (step 7-7) when the request isreceived. Thus, calls connected to the base stations are handed over tothe neighbor base station sequentially. The base stations belonging tothe base station group 1 (800-1) checks if the base stations have nocalls (no communication path providing service) (step 7-9). Withreference to call information stored in the memory 112 or storage device113 or with reference to call information managed in the base stationcontrol portion 200, the base station can check if the base stationshave no calls. After determining no calls, the base stations are reset(step 7-10) and the base stations load new software (step 7-11). Thus,the base stations are restarted (step 7-12). The base stations belongingto the base station group 1 (800-1) gradually increase transmissionpower of the base stations (step 7-13) and acknowledge the completion ofthe software upgrading to the network management device 250 (step 7-14)when the transmission power reaches the original transmission power.

After the network management device 250 receives the acknowledgement ofthe completion of the software upgrading from all of the base stationsbelonging to the base station group 1 (800-1), the network managementdevice 250 selects new base stations in which software will be upgraded(step 7-15: grouping). A group of the selected base stations is calledbase station group 2 (800-2). The network management device 250 requeststhe transfer of software to the base station group 2 (800-2) (step7-16). The step 7-16 is the same as the step 7-2. The network managementdevice 250 performs the same processing on the base station group 2(800-2) as the processing at the steps 7-2 to 7-14 on the base stationgroup 1 (800-1). These steps are repeated until all of the base stationsare grouped. Thus, software upgrading can be performed in all of thebase stations.

In order to switch a call communication path in service connected to thebase station in which software will be upgraded to a neighbor basestation, software should not be upgraded in the neighbor base station atthe same time. Therefore, a predetermined rule is required for selectinga base station in which software will be upgraded.

FIG. 7 is an operational flow diagram showing an example of an operationin the network management device for selecting a base station in whichsoftware will be upgraded. The flow shown in FIG. 7 is a detail flow ofthe steps 7-1 and 7-15 in FIG. 6. Through the processing shown in FIG.7, the network management device 250 selects and creates base stationgroup n (where n is an integer of one or above).

First of all, the network management device 250 reads the number of callconnections from the memory 252 (step 8-1). Here, the network managementdevice 250 may read the number of call connections from the base stationcontrol portion 200 or each of the base stations 110. Next, the networkmanagement device 250 selects (step 8-2), as candidates for the basestation group n, the base station which has not belonged to any groupsyet and the base station which has not been excluded at steps 8-4 and8-8. Then, the network management device 250 selects from the candidatesthe base station having the least number of calls or the base stationhaving the fewer number of call connections than a predetermined numberof call connections. The selected base station is named as base stationA (step 8-3).

Next, if the number of call connections of the base station A is morethan the predetermined value, the network management apparatus 250excludes the selected base station from the candidates (step 8-4). Onthe other hand, if not, the network management device 250 add the basestation A into the base station group n (step 8-6). Then, the networkmanagement device 250 obtains information on the neighbor base stationsof the base station A from the memory 252 (step 8-7). The neighbor basestations of the base station A are excluded from the candidates for thebase station group n (step 8-8). When the base selected base station isexcluded from the candidates at the step 8-4, the steps 8-6 to 8-8 arenot necessary.

After that, the network management device 250 checks if any basestations to be candidates for the base station group n remain (step8-9). If the base stations to be the candidates still remain, theprocessing returns to the step 8-2. Then, the step 8-2 and subsequentsteps are performed. On the other hand, no base stations to be thecandidates remain, the network management device 250 ends the creationand selection of the base station group n (8-10).

By performing the above-described steps, software upgrading is notperformed in the base stations adjacent to each other at the same time.Therefore, the communication path of the call in communication servicein the base station in which software will be upgraded can be switchedto the neighbor base station.

FIGS. 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are explanatory diagrams for describing statesof the base station selecting operation shown in FIG. 7. The memory 252of the network management device 250 stores a table containing basestation identifiers, a number of calls connected to base stations(number of call connections), neighbor base station identifiers andgroup information, as shown in FIGS. 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. By performingthe processing shown in FIG. 7 with reference to the table, a basestation group in which software will be simultaneously upgraded can beselected. The base station selecting operation will be described belowwith reference to FIGS. 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state before the selection of the basestation group. First of all, the creation of the base station group 1will be described. “0” in the column, “GROUP”, in the figures indicatesthat the base station does not belong to any group, meaning that thebase station can be the candidate for the selection. The networkmanagement device 250 selects a base station 1 having five callconnections, which is the least number of call connections, (or basestation 1 having fewer call connections than a predetermined callconnections (15 call connections, in this case) and identified first) byperforming steps 8-1 to 8-6 in accordance with the selecting processingin FIG. 7. Then, the network management device 250 gives “1” in thecolumn, “GROUP”.

Next, at steps 8-7 and 8-8 in FIG. 7, the number of the neighbor basestation of the base station 1 is referred, and “x” is given to thecolumn, “GROUP”, for the neighbor base station of the base station 1.Here, “x” indicates that the base station is excluded from thecandidates for the selection.

FIG. 9 shows the state at that time.

Furthermore, at a step 8-9 in FIG. 7, the network management device 250performs again the operation for selecting base stations at the step 8-2and subsequent steps since the base stations which can be the candidatesstill remain.

The network management device 250 selects a base station 21 having sixcall connections, which is the least number of call connections, (orbase station 21 having fewer call connections than the predeterminedcall connections (15 call connections, in this case) and identifiedfirst) from the base stations having “0” in the column, “GROUP”, (orother than the base stations having “1” and “x”) (step 8-2 to 8-4).Then, the network management device 250 gives “1” in the column, “GROUP”(step 8-6) and refers to the neighbor base station 22 of the basestation 21 (step 8-7). Then, the network management device 250 gives “x”to the column, “GROUP”, of the base station 22 (step 8-8).

Furthermore, by performing a step 8-9 and the step 8-2 and subsequentsteps, the network management device 250 selects a base station 8 havingeleven call connections, which is the least number of call connections,(or base station 8 having fewer call connections than the predeterminedcall connections (15 call connections, for example) and identifiedfirst) from the base stations having “0” in the column, “GROUP”, (orother than the base stations having “1” and “x”). Then, the networkmanagement device 250 gives “1” in the column, “GROUP”, thereof. Byperforming this processing until the base stations not having “1” or “x”in the column, “GROUP” no longer exist. Thus, the base station group 1can be created and be selected. (After this, the processing goes to astep 8-10.)

FIG. 10 is a diagram where the election of the base station group 1ends. The network management device 250 performs processing for softwareupgrading on the base stations having “1” in the column, “GROUP”. Afterthe completion of the software upgrading of the base station group 1,the network management device 250 changes “x” in the column “GROUP” to“0”, for example, which is data indicating that the upgrading has beenperformed or indicating that the base station is a candidate for theselection. Then, the network management device 250 selects the basestation group 2 in the same manner as the one described above. In thisexample, “0” stored in the column, GROUP” indicates that software hasnot been upgraded while a group number such as “1” indicates that thesoftware has been upgraded.

FIG. 11 is a diagram where the selection for the base station group 2has completed. Also in FIG. 11, the network management device 250selects base stations in the same manner as the selection for the basestation group 1 in FIG. 10 and gives “2” or “x” in the column, “GROUP”.In the case shown in FIG. 11, the base stations 5, 22, 7 and 3 aresequentially selected for the group 2 in accordance with the selectionoperation shown in FIG. 7 (where the base station having the least callconnections is selected).

The number of calls connecting to base stations are different betweenFIG. 10 and FIG. 11. This means that the call movement changes thenumber connecting calls because since there is a difference in timebetween the software upgrading for the base station group 1 and thesoftware upgrading for the base station group 2. According to thisembodiment, in order to prevent the change in the number of callconnection to be referred during the selection of a base station group,the number of call connections is read during the selection processing,and the selection processing is performed with reference to the readnumber of call connections. The number of call connections to bereferred is not limited to the read number of call connections, and theselection processing may be performed with reference to the changingnumber of call connections.

FIG. 12 is a diagram where the selection of a base station group 3 hasbeen completed. Also in FIG. 12, the network management device 250selects base stations and gives the group number “3” or “x” thereto inthe same manner as the selection of the base station groups 1 and 2 inFIGS. 10 and 11. In the case in FIG. 12, base stations 6, 4 and 2 aresequentially selected for the base station group 3 in accordance withthe selection operation shown in FIG. 7 (where the base station havingthe least number of connections is selected). As shown in FIG. 12, whenno base stations having “x” exist when the group selection completes,the group number is given to all base stations. This means that thecreation of the base station group has completed.

FIG. 13 is an operational explanatory diagram showing an operationalexample of transmission power reducing processing in a base stationwhere software will be upgraded. The operational example in FIG. 13 isdetail processing of the step 7-7 shown in FIG. 6. In the base station110 where software will be upgraded, the CPU 111 starts reducingtransmission power (step 12-1) in response to a software upgradingrequest from the network management device 250. The CPU 111 requests thewireless IF 116 to reduce transmission power by a predetermined amountof the power reduction rate (step 12-2). The wireless IF 116 reduces thetransmission power in response to the request (step 12-3) and notifiesthe CPU 111 of the transmission power value after the transmission powerreduction (step 12-4). The CPU 111 checks if the power value notifiedfrom the wireless IF 116 is the lowest value of the predeterminedtransmission power or not (step 12-5). If not, the processing returns tothe step 12-2, and the step 12-2 and subsequent steps are performedagain. On the other hand, if the notified power value reaches the lowestvalue, the CPU 111 ends the transmission power reduction (step 12-6).

Through these steps, the base station 110 can gradually reduce thetransmission power of the base station 110 and switch the communicationpath that the base station 110 is providing a communication service tothe neighbor base station. Thus, the state that the base station 110 nolonger provides the communication service can be obtained.

[Second Software Upgrading]

Next, another wireless communication network according to thisembodiment will be described below.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a wirelesscommunication network according to this embodiment. A wirelesscommunication network 10′ has a construction described below andimplements communication among terminals.

Plural mobile terminals MS1 300-1 and MS2 300-2 and plural wirelesscommunication apparatus (called base station hereinafter) BS1 110′-1 toBS8 110′-8 are connected by a wireless communication path, not shown.More specifically, each base station BS communicates with a terminal MSby using a CDMA in an area (called sector) that radio waves can reach.In the example in FIG. 14, a sector .alpha. 130-1, a sector .beta. 130-2and a sector .gamma. 130-3 are shown. However, each base station canhave any number of sectors. Though not shown, the sectors of each actualbase station overlap and the sector .alpha. 130-1 and a sector .gamma.130-3 of the base station BS1 can be set through communication paths900-2 and 910-2 from the terminal MS1 300-1. In the followingdescription for this embodiment, an area where the plural base stationsBS1 110′-1 to BS2 100′-8 can communicate with a terminal MS is calledmobile communication network 400′.

The base stations BS1 110′-1 to BS8 110′-8 of a mobile communicationnetwork 400′-1 are connected by a base station control portion (controldevice) 200-1 and a main signal communication path 500-1. The basestation control portion 200 includes a diversity handover unit (DHT) 210(which will be described in detail later) for performing soft handoverprovided in “3GPP TR25.832, Section 5.2.1”, for example. The basestation control portion 200 selects and communicates with onecommunication path having good communication quality from the pluralcommunication paths 900 and 910.

When the destination from the terminal MS1 300-1 is in the same mobilecommunication network 400′-1, the base station control portion 200-1returns a signal 930 selected by the DHT 210 to one of the base stationsBS1 110′-1 to BS8 110′-8 controlled by the base station control portion200-1 and communicates with the destination terminal MS. On the otherhand, the destination is a terminal of another mobile communicationnetwork 400′-2 (the detail construction of which is substantially thesame as that of the mobile communication network 400′-1 and will beomitted here), the base station control portion 200-1 exchanges signalswith the destination terminal through the communication network 150connecting between base station control portions 200 by using a basestation control portion 200-2 and a mobile communication network 400′-2.The communication network 150 may be a public network, an exclusive linenetwork and a private network. The mobile communication network 400′-2may be a so-called fixed network including a wired communication networkand terminals fixed in the wired communication network.

The network management device 250 is connected with the base station BS110′ and the base station control portions 200 in the communicationnetwork 10′ through a control signal communication path 600. The controlsignal communication path 600 exchanges control signals for monitoringand maintenance. For example, the network management device 250 managesand controls the entire facility of the communication network 10′ byupgrading software in the base station 110′. The number of sectorswithin the base station BS 110′, base station control portion 200,network managing device 250, and each base station BS is not limited tothe number shown in FIG. 14 but may be any number.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation in a communication network. The base station 110′ has aconstruction mentioned below. The base station connects betweenterminals and the base station control portion and communicates with thenetwork managing device.

When the base station 110′ receives, at an antenna 119′-1, a signal(wave signal) from the terminal MS 300 through a wireless communicationpath, not shown, a wireless IF unit 116-1 performs terminationprocessing such as the conversion of the wave signal to an electricsignal. A communication processing unit 117-1 performs processing (suchas communication processing for call controls) on the signal after thetermination processing in order to perform various communicationservices. A line IF unit 118 matches the interface with the base stationcontrol portion 200. Then, the signal is sent to the base stationcontrol portion 200 through a main signal communication path 500. Thebase station 110′ sends the signal from the base station control portion200 to the terminal MS 300 by following steps in the opposite directionof the above-described processing. This is a case where the sector.alpha. control portion 120-1 exchanges signals (wave signals). However,the exchanges of signals (wave signals) by the sector .beta. controlportion 120-2 and sector .gamma. control portion 120-3 can be performedin the same manner.

The CPU 111-4 of an apparatus management portion 121 of the base station110′ uses a control program stored in the memory 112-4 and data (such asinformation on terminals) required for operating the wirelesscommunication network 10′. In this case, the data is stored in a storagedevice 113. Thus, the CPU 111-4 controls the entire base station 110′such as the sector control portions 120-1 to 120-3 and the line IF 118.

The CPU 111-1 to 111-3 of the sector control portion 120-1 to 120-3 ofthe base station 110′ uses a control program stored in memories 112-1 to112-3 to control the wireless IF units 116-1 to 116-3 of the sectors andcommunication processors 117-1 to 117-3 of the sectors in response to aninstruction from the apparatus management portion 121.

These units are connected through an internal bus 115. An I/O 114connected to the internal bus 115 is an interface with the networkmanaging device 250 and exchanges, through a control signalcommunication path 600, a control signal (or command signal) and variouskinds of data required for control of the operation and maintenance ofthe communication network 10′. Here, the I/O 114 may be removed and themain signal communication path 500 may be used to add these controlsignal and data to the signals exchanged through the main signalcommunication path 500. Then, the resulting signals may be exchangedthrough a line IF unit 118.

In the base station 110′, upon the upgrading of communication servicesprovided in the wireless communication network 10′, the CPU 111-4 of theapparatus management portion 121 upgrades software (such as a controlprogram) stored in the memories 112-1 to 112-4 of the apparatusmanagement portion 121 and the sector control portions 120-1 to 120-3 orfirmware (such as a control program) stored in the wireless IF units116-1 to 116-3, communication processing units 117-1 to 117-3 and lineIF unit 118 by following steps and performing operations mentioned belowand by keeping the base station in use (in operation or at on-linestate). The operation for upgrading software and/or firmware while thebase station is being used may be called on-line upgrading hereinafter.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of a wireless communication network where the transmission waveoutput of the sector .alpha. 120-1 of the base stations BS1 110′-1 toBS8 110′-8 is lower than the one in FIG. 14. While the sector .alpha.120-1 of the base stations BS1 110′-1 covers the area having a terminalMS1 300-1 in FIG. 14, the area covered by the sector .alpha. 120-1 ofthe base stations BS1 110′-1 is reduced since the output of thetransmission wave of the sector .alpha. 120-1 of the base station isreduced in FIG. 16. Thus, the area having the MS1 300-1 cannot becovered. Then, similarly, the sector .alpha. of the BS8 110′-8 cannotcover the area having the terminal MS2 300-2. Therefore, the terminal MS300-1 cannot set the communication path 900-2 with the sector .alpha. ofthe base stations BS1 110′-1 and can only set the communication pathwith the sector .gamma. of the base stations BS1 110′-1. While theterminal MS1 300-1 selects the communication path 900-2 having goodcommunication quality in FIG. 14, the communication path 900-2 cannot beset in FIG. 16. Therefore, the communication path is switched to thecommunication path 910-2 by the DHT 210-2 of the base station controlportion 200-1. For the same reason, the communication path 900-1 isswitched to the communication path 910-1 for the terminal MS2. The basestation control portion 200-1 communicates with a destination terminalby using signals 920-1 and 920-2 from the switched communication paths.

By controlling the transmission waves of base stations, thecommunication paths being providing communication services can beswitched without blackouts from specific sectors of the base stations.Then, the base station no longer provides the communication service.Under this condition, the processing for software upgrading andreturning the transmission waves to the original state after thesoftware upgrading is performed sequentially on the base stations andthe plural sectors (.alpha., .beta. and .gamma.) control portions. Thus,software in the base stations in the wireless communication network canbe upgraded without the blackouts of communication services.

FIG. 17 is an operational explanatory diagram describing an example of asoftware upgrading operation in a base station. The network managementdevice 250 performs software-transfer instructing processing on basestations (step 17-1). Each of the base stations obtains new software byperforming processing for obtaining new software (step 17-2) andnotifies the network management device 250 on the completion of thesoftware transfer (step 17-3). Next, the network management device 250instructs each of the base stations to upgrade software (step 17-4). Thesoftware upgrading processing (step 17-5) for the sector .alpha. controlportion, software upgrading processing (step 17-6) for the sector .beta.control portion and software upgrading processing (step 17-7) for thesector .gamma. control portion are performed sequentially. After the endof the software upgrading processing for the device control portion(step 17-8), the end of the software upgrading is notified to thenetwork management device (step 17-9). FIG. 18 shows details of thesoftware upgrading processing (steps 17-5 to 17-7) for the sectorcontrol portions. FIG. 19 shows further details thereof. FIG. 20 showsdetails of the software upgrading processing (step 17-9) for the devicecontrol portion.

FIG. 18 is an operational flow diagram describing details of thesoftware upgrading processing (steps 17-5 to 17-7) for the sectorcontrol portions. First of all, the device control portion 121 performsprocessing for requesting the reduction of transmission power on thesector X (where X is .alpha., .beta. or .gamma.) control portion 120(step 18-1). The sector X control portion 120 gradually reduces thetransmission power (step 18-2). Thus, the call being processed by thesector X is handed over to the neighbor sector, and the communicationservice for the call is kept. When the transmission power reducingprocessing has completed, the sector X control portion 120 notifies theapparatus control portion 121 of the completion (step 18-3). Theapparatus control portion 121 checks whether no calls are connecting tothe sector X or not (step 18-4). After that, the apparatus controlportion 121 requests the software upgrading for the sector X controlportion 120 to the sector X control portion 120 (step 18-5). In responseto the request for the software upgrading request, the sector X controlportion 120 resets the sector X control portion 120 (step 18-6). Thus,the sector X control portion 120 loads new software (step 18-7). Afterthat, the sector X control portion 120 restarts the sector X (step 18-8)and gradually increases the transmission power of the sector X (step18-9). Thus, the communication processing by the sector X can beimplemented again. Upon the completion of the processing for graduallyincreasing the transmission power of the sector X (step 18-9), thesector X control portion 120 notifies the apparatus control portion 121of the completion of the software upgrading (18-10). In order to handover the call to the neighbor sector, the processing in FIG. 18 is notperformed on the sector (.alpha., .beta. and .beta.) control portions atthe same time and is sequentially performed thereto as shown in thesoftware upgrading processing (steps 17-5 to 17-7) for the sectorcontrol portions in FIG. 17.

FIG. 19 is an operational flow diagram describing the step for graduallyreducing the transmission power (step 18-2) shown in FIG. 18. Inresponse to the request for reducing the transmission power from the CPU111-4 of the device control portion (step 18-1), the CPU 111-1 111-2 or111-3 of the sector X control portion 120 starts reducing thetransmission power (step 19-1). The CPU 111-1 111-2 or 111-3 requeststhe wireless IF 116-1 116-2 or 116-3 to reduce the transmission power bya predetermined rate of the power reduction (step 19-2). In response tothe request, the wireless IF 116-1 116-2 or 116-3 reduces thetransmission power (step 19-3). Then, the transmission power value afterthe transmission power reduction is notified to the CPUs (111-1 to111-3). The CPU 111-1 111-2 or 111-3 checks if the power value notifiedfrom the wireless IF 116-1 116-2 or 116-3 is the lowest value of thetransmission power or not (step 19-5). If not, the step 19-2 isperformed again. If the notified power value reaches the lowest value,the completion of the reduction of the transmission power is notified(step 18-3).

The processing allows a base station to gradually reduce transmissionpower of a sector within the base station, switch a communication pathin which a communication service is being provided in the base stationto one in an adjacent sector or an adjacent base station to create astate that no communication service is available in the sector of thebase station and then upgrade software.

FIG. 20 is an operational flow diagram describing details of the step17-9 of software upgrading by the device control portion 121 in the basestation in FIG. 17. The device control portion 121 loads new software(step 20-2) by resetting the device control portion 121 itself (step20-1) and resets the device control portion 121 (step 20-3). Since theresetting of the device control portion 121 does not affect on the mainsignal communication path 500, software upgrading does not interrupt acommunication service even during software upgrading in the devicecontrol portion 121.

[Third Software Upgrading]

Next, another wireless communication network according to thisembodiment will be described below.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a wirelesscommunication network according to this embodiment. A wirelesscommunication network 10″ includes a construction which will bedescribed be low and performs communication between/among terminals.

Multiple mobile terminals MS1 300-1 and MS2 300-2 and multiple wirelesscommunication apparatus (called base stations hereinafter) BS1 110″-1and BS8 110″-8 are connected through a wireless communication path (notshown). More specifically, each base station BS includes multiple radiocoverages called sectors 130′-1 to 130′-3 separately of multiplefrequencies and performs wireless communication using the terminal MSand CDMA. In the shown example, communication paths 900-2 and 910-2 canbe defined with the sector .gamma. of a frequency f1 100″-1-1 and thesector of a frequency f2 100″-1-2 of the base station BS1 through theterminal MS1 300-1. Furthermore, communication paths 900-1 and 910-1 canbe defined with the sector .alpha. of a frequency f1 100″-8-1 and thesector .alpha. of a frequency f2 100″-8-2 of the base station BS8through the terminal MS2 300-2. Notably, in the description of thisembodiment, an area that these multiple base stations BS1 110″-1 and BS8110″-8 can communicate with the terminals MS is called mobilecommunication network 400″. The base station 110″ can have any number offrequencies, not limiting to the number shown in FIG. 21. Frequencies ofthe base station 110″ may have different frequency bands from eachother. For example, the frequency f1 and frequency f2 may have a band of800 MHz and a band of 2 GHz, respectively.

The base stations BS1 110″-1 and BS8 110″-8 in the mobile communicationnetwork 400″-1 are connected through a base station control portion (orcontroller) 200-1 and a communication path 500-1. The base stationcontrol portion 200 includes a diversity handover unit (DHT) 210 forperforming software handover provided by Section 5.2.1, TR25.832 of 3GPP(refer to Non-Patent Document 1) and performs communication through onecommunication path having good communication quality selected frommultiple communication paths 900 and 910, which will be described inmore detail later.

When the terminal MS1 300-1 calls a terminal MS in the same mobilecommunication network 400″-1, the base station control portion 200-1communicates with the called terminal MS by returning a signal 930selected by the DHT 210 to one of the subordinate base stations BS1110″-1 and BS8 110″-8. On the other hand, when the terminal MS1 300-1calls a terminal in another mobile communication network 400″-2 (thedetail construction of which is substantially the same as that of themobile communication network 400″-1 and the description of which will beomitted herein), the base station control portion 200-1 exchangessignals with the called terminal MS by using a base station controlportion 200-2 and a mobile communication network 400″-2 through acommunication network 150 connecting the base station control portions200. The communication network 150 may be a public network, a dedicatedline network or a private network. The mobile communication network400″-2 may be a so-called fixed network including a wired communicationnetwork and a terminal fixed therein.

The network management device 250 is connected to a base stations BS110″ and base station control portions 200 provided in the communicationnetwork 10″ through a control signal communication path 600 throughwhich control signals for monitoring, maintenance and so on areexchanged and manages and/or controls the entire facility of thecommunication network 10″ by upgrading software in the base stations110″, for example. Notably, any numbers of base station BS (110″), basestation control portion (200) and network management device 250 may beprovided, not limiting to the numbers shown in FIG. 21.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation provided in the communication network. The base station 110″ hasa construction which will be described below and connects between theterminal MS 300 and the base station control portion 200 and/orcommunicates with the network management device 250.

The base station 110″ includes wave signal processing portions 123-1 and123-2, one for each frequency, and a line IF 118, and a device controlportion 121. A wave signal (frequency f1) processing portion 123-1includes sector processing portions 122-1, 122-2 and 122-3 (which willbe called sector .alpha. processing portion, sector .beta. processingportion and sector .gamma. processing portion) and the sector controlportion 120′-1. The sector processing portions 122-1, 122-2 and 122-3have wireless IFs (first wireless IFs) 116-1 to 116-3 for sectors.alpha., .beta. and .gamma. and communication processing units (firstcommunication processing portions) 117-1 to 117-3 for sectors .alpha.,.beta. and .gamma. Similarly, a wave signal (frequency f2) processingportion 123-2 includes sector processing portions and the sector controlportion. The sector processing portions have wireless IFs (secondwireless IFs) for sectors .alpha., .beta. and .gamma. and communicationprocessing units (second communication processing portions) for sectors.alpha., .beta. and .gamma.

When the base station 110″ receives a signal (wave signal) transmittedfrom the terminal MS 300 through a wireless communication path, notshown, by an antenna 119′-1, the wireless IF unit 116-1 of the sector.alpha. processing portion 122-1 of the wave signal (frequency f1)processing portion 123-1 performs end processing such as conversion ofthe received signal to an electric signal. The communication processingunit 117-1 of the sector .alpha. processing portion 122-1 performsprocessing (such as processing for communication for call control, forexample) for performing a communication service on the signal after theend processing, and the line IF unit 118 matches the interface with thatof the base station control portion 200 and then transmits the signal tothe base station control portion 200 through the main signalcommunication path 500. The sector control portion 120′-1 controls thesector .alpha. processing portion 122-1 by using a CPU 111-5 and amemory 112-5. The base station 110″ transmits a signal from the basestation control portion 200 to the terminal MS 300 in the reverse orderof these steps.

The processing performed for the case that the sector .alpha. processingportion 122-1 of the wave signal (frequency f1) processing portion 123-1sends/receives a signal (wave signal) (where the signal has thefrequency f1) is also performed f or cases that the sector .beta.processing portion 122-2 of the wave signal (frequency f1) processingportion 123-1 and the sector .gamma. processing portion 122-3 of thewave signal (frequency f1) processing portion 123-1 send/receive asignal (wave signal). The same is true for a case where each of thesector control portions (the construction of which is identical to thatof each of the sector control portions of the wave signal (frequency f1)processing portion 123-1 and is not shown) of the wave signal (frequencyf2) processing portion 123-2 sends and receives a signal (wave signal)(where the signal has the frequency f2).

A CPU 111-4 of the device control portion 121 of the base station 110″controls the entire base station 110″ including th wave signalprocessing portions 123-1 and 123-2 and the line IF 118 by using acontrol program stored in a memory 112-4 and data required for operatingthe wireless communication network 10″ (for example, terminalinformation), which is stored in a storage device 113.

A CPU 111-5 of the sector control portion 120′-1 of each of the wavesignal processing portions 123 of the base station 110″ controls thewireless IF units 116-1 to 116-3 for sectors and communicationprocessing units 117-1 to 117-3 by using a control program stored in thememory 112-5 in response to a request from the device control portion121.

These units and so on are connected to an internal bus 115. An I/O 114connecting to the internal bus 115 is an interface with the networkmanagement device 250 and exchanges control signals (such as a command)and various kinds of data required for operations, maintenance and so onof the communication network 10″ through a control signal communicationpath 600. Those control signals and data may be added to a signal to beexchanged through the main signal communication path 500 without the I/O114 and may be exchanged through the line IF unit 118.

In the base station 110″, with the upgrading of a communication serviceavailable in the wireless communication network 10″, the CPU 111-4 ofthe device control portion 121 upgrades software (such as a controlprogram) stored in the device control portion 121 and the memory 112-5of the sector control portion 120′-1 of each of the wave signalprocessing portions 123-1 and 123-2 or firmware (such as a controlprogram) stored in the wireless IF units 116-1 to 116-3, communicationprocessing units 117-1 to 117-3 and line IF unit 118 by performing stepsand operations, which will be described later, with the base stationkept in use (in operation or on line). In the following description ofthis embodiment, the operation for upgrading software or firmware asdescribed above with the base station kept in use may be called onlineupgrading.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of the wireless communication network when the transmissionwaves of the frequency f1 of the base stations BS1 110″-1 and BS8 110″-8are lower than those of FIG. 21. In FIG. 21, the frequency f1 100″-1-1of the base station BS1 110″-1 covers an area having the terminal MS1300-1 while, in FIG. 23, the area covered by the frequency f1 100″-1-1of the base station BS1 110″-1 is reduced since the transmission wavesof the frequency f1 of the base stations are reduced and the area havingthe terminal MS1 300-1 cannot be therefore covered. The frequency f1100″-8-1 of the base station BS8 110″-8 cannot cover the area having theterminal MS2 300-2 either.

Thus, the terminal MS1 300-1 cannot define the communication path 900-2with the frequency f1 100″-1-1 of the base station BS1 110″-1 and canonly define a communication path with the frequency f2 100″-1-2 of thebase station BS1 110″-1. Though the terminal MS1 300-1 selects thecommunication path 900-2 having good communication quality in FIG. 21,the communication path 900-2 is switched to the communication path 910-2by the DHT 210-2 or 210-1 in the base station control portion 200-1 inFIG. 23 since the terminal MS1 300-1 can no longer define thecommunication path 900-2. The same is true for the terminal MS2, and thecommunication path 900-1 is switched to the communication path 910-1.Furthermore, the base station control portion 200-1 communicates with acalled terminal by using signals 920-1 and 920-2 from the switchedcommunication path.

The control of transmission waves of base stations can switch thecommunication path in which a communication service is being providedfrom a specific frequency of each of the base stations withoutinstantaneous interruption, resulting in a state that no communicationservice is available at the frequency. Software upgrading is performedunder the state and processing for returning the transmission waves tothe original state is performed sequentially on multiple frequency (f1and f2) processing portions and base stations after the softwareupgrading so that software in a base station within the wirelesscommunication network can be upgraded without blackouts of thecommunication services.

FIG. 24 is an operational explanatory diagram for describing an exampleof a software upgrading operation in a base station. The networkmanagement device 250 performs a step 24-1 of selecting (and grouping)base stations having software to upgrade under a predetermined rule. Agroup of base stations selected in the step 24-1 is called base stationgroup 1 (800-1), hereinafter. The selection of base stations can beimplemented by using the method described with reference to FIGS. 7 to12, for example. The number of call connections is managed for eachsector and each frequency, and the number of call connections of a basestation may be the sum value thereof.

When the network management device 250 performs a step 24-2 ofrequesting the base station group 1 (800-1) for software transfer, basestations belonging to the base station group 1 (800-1) perform a step24-3 of obtaining new software and obtain new software through the lineIF 118, for example, and perform a step 24-4 of acknowledging thecompletion of the software transfer to the network management device250. The network management device 250 performs a step 24-5 offorbidding a base station 800-x not belonging to the base station group1 (800-1) to perform a service stop operation and performs a step 24-6of requesting the base station group 1 (800-1) for software upgrading.The step 24-5 may be omitted.

In response to the request, base stations belonging to the base stationgroup 1 (800-1) sequentially perform a step 24-7 of upgrading softwarein the wave signal (frequency f1) processing portion and a step 24-8 ofupgrading software in the wave signal (frequency f2) processing portion,a step 24-9 of upgrading software in the device control portion 121 andthen a step 24-10 of acknowledging the completion of the softwareupgrading to the network management device 250. The detail steps andfurther detail steps of the software upgrading processing (in the steps24-7 and 24-8) in the wave signal processing portions are shown in FIGS.25 and 26, respectively, the detail descriptions of which will be givenlater. The detail steps of the software upgrading processing (in thestep 24-9) in the device control portion 121 are the same as theprocessing shown in FIG. 20. The processing (in the steps 24-7, 24-8 and24-9) can be performed in any order. For example, one of predeterminedfrequencies may be sequentially selected, and the software upgradingprocessing (in the steps 24-7 and 24-8) can be performed for theselected frequency.

In response to the acknowledgement of the completion of softwareupgrading from all base stations belonging to the base station group 1(800-1), the network management device 250 performs a step 24-11 ofnewly selecting (and grouping) base stations having software to upgrade.A group of the selected base stations is called base station group 2(800-2), hereinafter. The network management device 250 performs a step24-12 of requesting the base station group 2 (800-2) to transfersoftware. The step 24-12 is identical to the step 24-2. The networkmanagement device 250 also performs the same processing on the basestation group 2 (800-2) as the processing 24-2 to 24-10, which isperformed on the base station group 1 (800-1). Software in all basestations can be upgraded by repeating these steps until base stationsnot belonging to any base station group no longer remain.

Software upgrading can be performed without service blackouts byselecting base stations having software to upgrade as described abovealso in a wireless communication network having both base stations (eachhaving the construction shown in FIG. 22, for example) communicable atmultiple frequencies and base stations (each having the constructionshown in FIG. 2) communicable at one frequency. While, according to thisembodiment, a base station group is created, software upgrading may besequentially performed for each frequency on all base stations withoutcreating a group. In this case, the step 24-1 may be omitted.

FIG. 25 is an operational flow diagram for describing the detail stepsof the software upgrading processing (in the steps 24-7 and 24-8) in thewave signal processing portions. First of all, the device controlportion 121 performs a step 25-1 of requesting the wave signal(frequency fx, where x is 1 or 2) processing portion 123-x to reducetransmission power of all sectors. The wave signal (frequency fx)processing portion 123-x performs a step 25-2 of gradually reducing thetransmission power of all sectors. Thus, a call covered by the frequencyfx is handed over to another frequency, and the communication servicefor the call is continued. On the other hand, no communication serviceis available at the frequency fx. Upon completion of the processing forreducing transmission power of the all sectors, the wave signal(frequency fx) processing portion 123-x performs a step 25-3 ofacknowledging the completion to the device control portion 121.

The device control portion 121 performs a step 25-4 of checking if nocalls are connecting to all sectors of the wave signal (frequency fx)processing portion 123-x or not and then performs a step 25-5 ofrequesting the wave signal (frequency fx) processing portion 123-x toupgrade software in the wave signal (frequency fx) processing portion123-x. The wave signal (frequency fx) processing portion 123-x performsa step 25-6 of resetting the wave signal (frequency fx) processing 123-xitself in response to the request for software upgrading and therebyperforms a step 25-7 of loading new software. Here, the software to beloaded may be the software obtained in the step 24-3, for example. Then,the wave signal (frequency fx) processing portion 123-x performs a step25-8 of restarting the wave signal (frequency fx) processing portion123-x and a step 25-9 of gradually increasing transmission power of allsectors included in the wave signal (frequency fx) processing portion123-x so that communication processing of all sectors of the frequencyf1 is enabled again.

Upon completion of the step 25-9 of gradually increasing transmissionpower of all sectors included in the wave signal (frequency fx)processing portion 123-x, the wave signal (frequency fx) processingportion 123-x performs a step 25-10 of acknowledging the completion ofsoftware upgrading to the device control portion 121. In order to allowthe handover of a call to each sector of another frequency, the steps inFIG. 25 may be sequentially performed like the software upgradingprocessing (in the steps 24-7 and 24-8) in the wave signal processingportions 123 in FIG. 24 without performing the processing on the wavesignal processing portions 123 at the same time.

FIG. 26 is an operational flow diagram for describing details of thestep 25-2 of gradually reducing transmission power of all sectors shownin FIG. 25 for the frequency f1. Notably, the same is true for thefrequency f2. In response to the request to reduce transmission powerfrom the CPU 111-4 of the device control portion (step 25-1), the CPU111-5 of the sector control portion 120′-1 of the wave signal (frequencyf1) processing portion 123-1 starts a step 26-1 of reducing transmissionpower. The CPU 111-5 performs a step 26-2 of requesting wireless IFs116-1 to 116-3 to reduce transmission power by a predetermined rate ofpower reduction.

In response thereto, the wireless IFs 116-1 to 116-3 perform a step 26-3of reducing transmission power and performs a step 26-4 of notifying atransmission power value after the reduction of transmission power tothe CPU 111-5. The CPU 111-5 performs a step 26-5 of determining whetherthe power value notified by the wireless IFs 116-1 to 116-3 is thelowest power value of the transmission power or not and, if not,performs the step 26-2 again. If the notified power value reaches thelowest value, a step 26-3 of ending the reduction of transmission poweris performed.

The processing allows a base station to gradually reduce transmissionpower of the frequency fx of all sectors within the base station andallows switching a communication path in which a communication serviceis being provided in the base station to one at another frequency,resulting in a state that no communication service is available at thefrequency fx of all sectors within the base station. Thus, software canbe upgraded in a module relating to the frequency fx, that is, the wavesignal (frequency fx) processing portion. While the processing increasesor reduces the transmission power of the frequency fx of all sectors,transmission power for sectors may be sequentially increased or reduced.

[Fourth Software Upgrading]

Next, another wireless communication network according to thisembodiment will be described below.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a construction example of anotherwireless communication network according to this embodiment. A wirelesscommunication network 10′″ has a construction which will be describedbelow and performs communication between/among terminals.

Multiple mobile terminals MS1 300-1 and MS2 300-2 and multiple wirelesscommunication apparatus (called base stations hereinafter) BS1 110′″-1,BS2 110′″-2, BS3 110′″-3 and BS8 110′″-8 are connected through awireless communication path (not shown). More specifically, each basestation BS includes multiple radio coverages called sectors 130′-1 to130′-3 separately of multiple frequencies and performs wirelesscommunication using the terminal MS and CDMA. In the shown example,communication paths 900-2-1, 900-2-2 and 910-2 can be defined with thesector .beta. of a frequency f1 100″-1-1 and the sector .beta. of afrequency f2 100″-1-2 of the base station BS1 and the sector .alpha. ofa frequency f2 100″-2-2 of the base station BS2 through the terminal MS1300-1. Furthermore, communication paths 900-1-1, 900-1-2 and 910-1 canbe defined with the sector .alpha. of a frequency f1 100″-8-1 and thesector .alpha. of a frequency f2 100″-8-2 of the base station BS8 andthe sector .beta. of a frequency f2 100″-3-2 of the base station BS3through the terminal MS2 300-2.

Notably, in the description of this embodiment, an area that thesemultiple base stations BS1 110′″-1, BS2 110′″-2, BS3 110′″-3 and BS8110′″-8 can communicate with the terminals MS is called mobilecommunication network 400′″. The base station 110′″ can have any numberof frequencies, not limiting to the number shown in FIG. 27. Frequenciesof the base station 110′″ may have different frequency bands from eachother. For example, the frequency f1 and frequency f2 may have a band of800 MHz and a band of 2 GHz, respectively.

The base stations BS1 110′″-1, BS2 110′″-2, BS3 110′″-3 and BS8 110′″-8in the mobile communication network 400′″-1 are connected through a basestation control portion (or controller) 200-1 and a communication path500-1. The base station control portion 200 includes a diversityhandover unit (DHT) 210 for performing software handover provided bySection 5.2.1, TR25.832 of 3GPP (refer to Non-Patent Document 1) andperforms communication through one communication path having goodcommunication quality selected from multiple communication paths 900 and910, which will be described in more detail later. In FIG. 27, thecommunication paths 900-1-1 and 900-2-1 indicated by the solid lines arecommunication paths selected by the DHT 210 while the communicationpaths indicated by the broken lines are unselected communication paths.

When the terminal MS1 300-1 calls a terminal MS in the same mobilecommunication network 400′″-1, the base station control portion 200-1communicates with the called terminal MS by returning a signal 930selected by the DHT 210 to one of the subordinate base stations BS1110′″-1, BS2 110′″-2, BS3 110′″-3 and BS8 110′″-8. On the other hand,when the terminal MS1 300-1 calls a terminal in another mobilecommunication network 400′″-2 (the detail construction of which issubstantially the same as that of the mobile communication network400′″-1 and the description of which will be omitted herein), thecommunication control portion 200-1 exchanges signals with the calledterminal MS by using a base station control portion 200-2 and a mobilecommunication network 400′″-2 through a communication network 150connecting the base station control portions 200. The communicationnetwork 150 may be a public network, a dedicated line network or aprivate network. The mobile communication network 400′″-2 may be aso-called fixed network including a wired communication network and aterminal fixed therein.

The network management device 250 is connected to a base stations BS110′″ and base station control portions 200 provided in thecommunication network 10′″ through a control signal communication path600 through which control signals for monitoring, maintenance and so onare exchanged and manages and/or controls the entire facility of thecommunication network 10′″ by upgrading software in the base stations110′″, for example. Notably, any numbers of base station BS 110′″, basestation control portion 200 and network management device 250 may beprovided, not limiting to the numbers shown in FIG. 27.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing a construction example of a basestation provided in the communication network in FIG. 27. The basestation 110′″ has a construction which will be described below andconnects between the terminal MS 300 and the base station controlportion 200 and/or communicates with the network management device 250.

The base station 110′″ includes signal processing portions 124-1 and124-2, one for each frequency, wave signal processing portions 125-1 to125-3, one for each sector, and a line interface 118, and a devicecontrol portion 121.

When the base station 110′″ receives a signal (wave signal) transmittedfrom the terminal MS 300 through a wireless communication path, notshown, by an antenna 119′-1, the wireless IF unit 116-1 of the sector.alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1 performs end processingsuch as conversion of the received signal to an electric signal. Thecommunication processing unit (communication processing portion) 117-4of the signal processing portion (for the frequency f1) 124-1 performsprocessing (such as processing for communication for call control, forexample) for performing a communication service on the signal after theend processing. When the frequency of the received signal is thefrequency f2, communication processing is performed by the signalprocessing portion (for the frequency f2) 124-2. The line IF unit 118matches the interface with that of the base station control portion 200and then transmits the signal to the base station control portion 200through the main signal communication path 500.

The base station 110′″ transmits a signal from the base station controlportion 200 to the terminal MS 300 in the reverse order of these steps.Though the processing is for the case that a signal at the frequency f1is exchanged in the sector .alpha., the same is true for the case that asignal (wave signal) at the frequency f1 or frequency f2 is exchanged atthe sector .alpha., sector .beta. or sector .gamma. Furthermore, each ofthe wave signal processing portions 125-1 to 125-3 can reduce andincrease outputs of transmission waves for the frequencies f1 and f2,respectively.

A CPU 111-4 of the device control portion 121 of the base station 110′″controls the entire base station 110′″ including the sector wave signalprocessing portions 125-1 to 125-3, signal processing portions 124-1 and124-2 for frequencies and the line IF 118 by using a control programstored in the memory 112-4 and data required for operating the wirelesscommunication network 10′″ (for example, terminal information), which isstored in the storage device 113.

CPUs 111-11 to 111-13 of the sector wave signal processing portion 125-1to 125-3 of the base station 110′″ control the wireless IF units 116-1to 116-3 for sectors by using a control program stored in memories112-11 to 112-13 in response to a request from the device controlportion 121. A CPU 111-6 (not shown because one for the frequency f2 isidentical to the one for the frequency f1) of the signal processingportions 124-1 and 124-2 for the frequencies controls the communicationprocessing units 117-4 (where the one for the frequency f2 is not shown)for the frequencies by using a control program stored in a memory 112-6(where the one for the frequency f2 is not shown) in response to arequest from the device control portion 121.

These units and so on are connected to an internal bus 115. An I/O 114connecting to the internal bus 115 is an interface with the networkmanagement device 250 and exchanges control signals (such as a command)and various kinds of data required for operations, maintenance and so onof the communication network 10′″ through a control signal communicationpath 600. Those control signals and data may be added to a signal to beexchanged through the main signal communication path 500 without the I/O114 and may be exchanged through the line IF unit 118.

In the base station 110′″, with upgrading of a communication serviceavailable in the wireless communication network 10′″, the CPU 111-4 ofthe device control portion 121 upgrades software (such as a controlprogram) stored in the device control portion 121, the memories 112-11to 112-13 of the sector wave signal processing portions 125-1 to 125-3and the memory 112-6 of the signal processing portion 124-1, forexample, for each frequency or firmware (such as a control program)stored in the wireless IF units 116-1 to 116-3, the communicationprocessing unit 117-4 and line IF unit 118 by performing steps andoperations, which will be described later, with the base station kept inuse (in operation or on line). In the following description of thisembodiment, the operation for upgrading software or firmware asdescribed above with the base station kept in use may be called onlineupgrading. The base station as shown in FIG. 28 has a block for eachsector and a block for each frequency, which can be used for bothsoftware upgrading for each sector and software upgrading for eachfrequency.

FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of the wireless communication network when the transmissionwaves of the frequency f1 of the base stations BS1 110′″-1 and BS8110′″-8 are lower than that of FIG. 27. In FIG. 27, the frequency f1100″-1-1 of the base station BS1 110′″-1 covers the area having theterminal MS1 300-1 while, in FIG. 29, the area covered by the frequencyf1 100″-1-1 of the base station BS1 110′″-1 is reduced since thetransmission waves of the frequency f1 of the base stations are reducedand the area having the terminal MS1 300-1 cannot be therefore covered.The frequency f1 100″-8-1 of the base station BS8 110′″-8 cannot coverthe area having the terminal MS2 300-2 either. Thus, the terminal MS1300-1 cannot define the communication path 900-2-1 with the frequency f110″-1-1 of the base station BS1 110′″-1 and can only define acommunication path with the Sector .beta. of the frequency f2 100″-1-2of the base station BS1 110′″-1 and the sector .alpha. of the frequencyf2 100″-2-2 of the base station BS2 110′″-2. Though the terminal MS1300-1 selects the communication path 900-2-1 having good communicationquality in FIG. 27, the communication path 900-2-1 is switched to thecommunication path 900-2-2 by the DHT 210-2 in the base station controlportion 200-1 in FIG. 29 since the terminal MS1 300-1 can no longerdefine the communication path 900-2-1. The same is true for the terminalMS2, and the communication path 900-1-1 is switched to the communicationpath 900-1-2. Furthermore, the base station control portion 200-1communicates with a called terminal by using signals 920-1 and 920-2from the switched communication path.

The control of transmission waves of a base station can switch thecommunication path in which a communication service is being providedfrom a specific frequency of each of the base stations withoutinstantaneous interruption, resulting in a state that no communicationservice is available at the frequency. Software upgrading is performedin a module provided for each frequency within the base station underthe state and processing for returning the transmission waves to theoriginal state is performed sequentially on signal processing portions124-1 and 124-2 for multiple frequencies (f1 and f2) and base stationsafter the software upgrading so that software in the module (that is,the signal processing portion 124 in the case in FIG. 28) provided foreach frequency in a base station within the wireless communicationnetwork can be upgraded without blackouts of the communication services.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing a construction and operationalexample of the wireless communication network when the transmission waveoutput of the sector .alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1 of thebase stations BS1 110′″-1 and BS8 110′″-8 is lower than that of FIG. 27for all frequencies. In FIG. 27, the sector .alpha. of the base stationBS8 110′″-8 covers the area having the terminal MS2 300-2 while, in FIG.30, the area covered by the sector .alpha. of the base station BS8110′″-8 is reduced since the transmission wave output of sectors a ofthe base stations for all frequencies is reduced and the area having theterminal MS2 300-2 cannot be therefore covered. Thus, the terminal MS2300-2 cannot define the communication paths 900-1-1 and 900-2-1 with allfrequencies of the sector .alpha. of the base station BS8 110′″-8 andcan only define a communication path 910-1 with the sector .beta. of thebase station BS3 110′″-3.

Though the terminal MS2 300-2 selects the communication path 900-1-1having good communication quality in FIG. 27, the communication path900-1-1 is switched to the communication path 910-1 by the DHT 210-2 inthe base station control portion 200-1 in FIG. 30 since the terminal MS2300-2 can no longer define the communication path 900-1-1. The basestation control portion 200-1 communicates with a called terminal byusing a signal 940-1 from the switched communication path.

The control of transmission waves of a base station can switch thecommunication path in which a communication service is being providedfrom a specific sector of each of the base stations withoutinstantaneous interruption, resulting in a state that no communicationservice is available at the frequency in the sector. Software upgradingis performed under the state and processing for returning thetransmission waves to the original state is performed sequentially onwave signal processing portions 125-1 to 125-3 for multiple sectors(.alpha., .beta. and .gamma.) and base stations after the softwareupgrading so that software in a module (that is, the sector wave signalprocessing portion 125 in the case in FIG. 28) provided for each sectorin a base station within the wireless communication network can beupgraded without blackouts of the communication services.

Software in a base station having the construction in FIG. 28 may beupgraded without blackouts of the communication service by using acombination of systems in FIGS. 29 and 30.

FIG. 31 is an operational explanatory diagram for describing an exampleof a software upgrading operation in a base station. The networkmanagement device 250 performs a step 31-1 of selecting (and grouping)base stations having software to upgrade under a predetermined rule. Agroup of base stations selected in the step 31-1 is called base stationgroup 1 (800-1), hereinafter. The selection of base stations can beimplemented by using the method described with reference to FIGS. 7 to12, for example. The number of call connections (or number of calls) ismanaged for each sector and each frequency, and the number of callconnections of a base station may be the sum value thereof.

When the network management device 250 performs a step 31-2 ofrequesting the base station group 1 (800-1) to transfer software, basestations belonging to the base station group 1 (800-1) perform a step31-3 of obtaining new software and obtain new software, for example,thereby and perform a step 31-4 of acknowledging the completion of thesoftware transfer to the network management device 250. The networkmanagement device 250 performs a step 31-5 of forbidding a base station800-x not belonging to the base station group 1 (800-1) to perform aservice stop operation and performs a step 31-6 of requesting the basestation group 1 (800-1) to upgrade software. The step 31-5 may beomitted.

In response to the request, base stations belonging to the base stationgroup 1 (800-1) sequentially perform a step 31-7 of upgrading softwarein the signal processing portion (for the frequency f1) and a step 31-8of upgrading software in the signal processing portion (for thefrequency f2), a step 31-9 of upgrading software in the sector .alpha.wave signal processing portion, a step 31-10 of upgrading software bythe sector .beta. wave signal processing portion and a step 31-11 ofupgrading software in the sector .gamma. wave signal processing portion,a step 31-12 of upgrading software in the device control portion 121 andthen a step 31-13 of acknowledging the completion of the softwareupgrading to the network management device. The order of the steps 31-7to 31-12 of software upgrading is an example, and the steps 31-7 to31-12 can be performed in any order. For example, one of predeterminedmultiple frequencies may be sequentially selected, and softwareupgrading may be performed sequentially on signal processing portions inaccordance with selected frequencies. Alternatively, sectors may besequentially selected in the same manner, and software upgrading may beperformed sequentially on wave signal processing portions in accordancewith the selected sectors.

The detail steps and further detail steps of the software upgradingprocessing (in the steps 31-7 and 31-8) in the frequency signalprocessing portions 124-1 and 124-2 are shown in FIGS. 32 and 33,respectively. The detail steps and further detail steps of the softwareupgrading processing (in the steps 31-9 to 31-11) in the sector wavesignal processing portions 125-1 to 125-3 are shown in FIGS. 34 and 35,respectively. The detail steps of the software upgrading processing (inthe step 31-12) in the device control portion 121 is the same as theprocessing shown in FIG. 20.

In response to the acknowledgement of the completion of softwareupgrading from all base stations belonging to the base station group 1(800-1), the network management device 250 performs a step 31-14 ofnewly selecting (and grouping) base stations having software to upgrade.The selection of base stations can be performed in the same manner asthe one described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 12. A group of theselected base stations is called base station group 2 (800-2),hereinafter. The network management device 250 performs a step 31-15 ofrequesting the base station group 2 (800-2) to transfer software. Thestep 31-15 is identical to the step 31-2. The network management device250 also performs the same processing on the base station group 2(800-2) as the processing (in the steps 31-2 to 31-13), which isperformed on the base station group 1 (800-1). Software in all basestations can be upgraded by repeating these steps until base stationsnot belonging to any base station group no longer remain. Notably, theselection of a base station group may be omitted.

FIG. 32 is an operational flow diagram for describing the detail stepsof software upgrading processing (in the steps 31-7 and 31-8) in thesignal processing portions. First of all, the device control portion 121performs a step 32-1 of requesting the sector wave signal processingportions 125-1 to 125-3 to reduce transmission power of the frequency fxof all sectors. The sector wave signal processing portions 125-1 to125-3 perform a step 32-2 of gradually reducing the transmission powerof the frequency fx (f1 or f2) of all sectors. Thus, the area covered bythe frequency fx is reduced to the area covered by the frequency f1 ofthe base stations BS1 110′″-1 and BS8 110′″-8 shown in FIG. 29, and acall covered by the frequency fx is handed over to another frequency(that is, the frequency f2 in FIG. 29). Then, the communication servicefor the call is continued. Upon completion of the processing forreducing transmission power of the frequency fx, the sector wave signalprocessing portions 125-1 to 125-3 of the sectors perform a step 32-3 ofacknowledging the completion to the device control portion 121.

The device control portion 121 performs a step 32-4 of checking if nocalls are connecting to all sectors of the frequency fx or not and thenperforms a step 32-5 of requesting the signal processing portion 124-x(for the frequency fx) to upgrade software in the signal processingportion (for the frequency fx) 124-x.

The signal processing portion (for the frequency fx) 124-x performs astep 32-6 of resetting the signal processing portion (for the frequencyfx) 124-x itself in response to the request for software upgrading andthereby performs a step 32-7 of loading new software. Then, after thecompletion of a restart step 32-8, the completion of the restart of thesignal processing portion (for the frequency fx) is acknowledged to thedevice control portion 121 (step 32-9). Here, the software to be loadedmay be the software obtained in the step 31-3, for example. In responseto the acknowledgement of the restart step 32-9 from the signalprocessing portion (for the frequency fx) 124-x, the device controlportion 121 performs a step 32-10 of requesting to increase all sectortransmission power of the frequency fx in the sector wave signalprocessing portions 125-1 to 125-3. The sector wave signal processingportions 125 performs a step 32-11 of gradually increasing transmissionpower in response to the request to increase transmission power of thefrequency fx. Thus, communication processing of all sectors of thefrequency fx (such as f1) is enabled again.

Upon completion of the step 32-11 of gradually increasing transmissionpower, the sector wave signal processing portions 125-1 to 125-3 performa step 32-12 of acknowledging the completion of the increase of thetransmission power of the frequency fx to the device control portion121. In order to allow the handover of a call to each sector of anotherfrequency, the steps in FIG. 32 may be sequentially performed for eachfrequency like the software upgrading processing (in the steps 31-7 and31-8) in the signal processing portions 124 in FIG. 31, for example,without performing the steps on the signal processing portions 124 atthe same time. For example, in the step 31-7 in FIG. 31, the steps inFIG. 32 may be performed with fx=f1, and, in the step 31-8 in FIG. 31,the steps in FIG. 32 may be performed with fx=f2.

FIG. 33 is an operational flow diagram for describing details of thestep 32-2 of gradually reducing transmission power of the frequency fxshown in FIG. 32. Notably, though FIG. 33 shows the sector .alpha., thesame is true for the sectors .beta. and .gamma. In response to therequest to reduce transmission power of the frequency fx from the CPU111-4 of the device control portion (32-1), the CPU 111-11 of the sector.alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1 starts a step 33-1 ofreducing transmission power of the frequency fx. The CPU 111-11 performsa step 33-2 of requesting the wireless IF 116-1 to reduce transmissionpower of the frequency fx by a predetermined rate of power reduction.The wireless IF 116-1 performs a step 33-3 of reducing transmissionpower in response thereto and performs a step 33-4 of notifying atransmission power value after the reduction of transmission power tothe CPU 111-11.

The CPU 111-11 performs a step 33-5 of determining whether the powervalue notified by the wireless IF 116-1 is the lowest value of thetransmission power or not and, if not, performs the step 33-2 again. Ifthe notified power value reaches the lowest value, a step 32-3 of endingthe reduction of transmission power is performed. For example, the CPU111-11 acknowledges the completion of the processing for reducing thetransmission power of the frequency fx to the CPU 111-4 of the devicecontrol portion.

The processing allows a base station to gradually reduce transmissionpower of the frequency fx of all sectors within the base station andallows to switch a communication path in which a communication serviceis being provided in the base station to one at another frequency,resulting in a state that no communication service is available at thefrequency fx of all sectors within the base station. Thus, software canbe upgraded in a module relating to the frequency fx, that is, thesignal processing portion (for the frequency fx).

FIG. 34 is an operational flow diagram for describing detail steps ofthe software upgrading step 31-9 in the sector .alpha. wave signalprocessing portion. The same is true for the steps 31-10 and 31-11 inthe sectors .beta. and .gamma. First of all, the device control portion121, performs a step 34-1 of requesting the sector .alpha. wave signalprocessing portion 125-1 to reduce transmission power of allfrequencies. The sector .alpha. wave signal processing portions 125-1performs a step 34-2 of gradually reducing the transmission power of allfrequencies of the sector .alpha. Thus, the area covered by allfrequencies in the sector .alpha. is reduced to the area covered by thesector .alpha. of the base stations BS1 110′″-1 and BS8 110′″-8 shown inFIG. 30, and calls covered by all frequencies in the sector a are handedover to another sector (that is, the sector .beta. of the base stationBS3 110′″-3 in the terminal MS2 300-2 in FIG. 30). Then, thecommunication services for the calls are continued. Upon completion ofthe processing for reducing transmission power of all frequencies in thesector .alpha., the sector .alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1performs a step 34-3 of acknowledging the completion to the devicecontrol portion 121.

The device control portion 121 performs a step 34-4 of checking if nocalls are connecting to the sector .alpha. of all frequencies or not andthen performs a step 34-5 of requesting the sector .alpha.wave signalprocessing portion 125-1 to upgrade software in the sector .alpha. wavesignal processing portion 125-1. The sector .alpha. wave signalprocessing portion 125-1 performs a step 34-6 of resetting the sector.alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1 itself in response to therequest for software upgrading and thereby performs a step 34-7 ofloading new software. Then, after the completion of a restart step 34-8,a step 34-9 of gradually increasing transmission power of allfrequencies is performed. Here, the software to be loaded may be thesoftware obtained in the step 31-3, for example. Thus, communicationprocessing for all frequencies of the sector .alpha. is enabled again.

Upon completion of the step 34-9 of gradually increasing transmissionpower, the sector .alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1 performsa step 34-10 of acknowledging the completion of software upgrading inthe sector .alpha. wave signal processing portion to the device controlportion 121. In order to allow the handover of calls to another sector,the steps in FIG. 34 may be sequentially performed like the softwareupgrading processing (in the steps 31-9 to 31-11) in the sector wavesignal processing portions 125 in FIG. 31, for example, withoutperforming the processing on the sector wave signal processing portions125 at the same time.

FIG. 35 is an operational flow diagram for describing details of thestep 34-2 of gradually reducing transmission power of all frequencies ofthe sector .alpha. shown in FIG. 34. Notably, though FIG. 35 shows thesector .alpha., the same is true for the sectors .beta. and .gamma. Inresponse to the request to reduce transmission power of all frequenciesfrom the CPU 111-4 of the device control portion (step 34-1), the CPU111-11 of the sector .alpha. wave signal processing portion 125-1 startsa step 35-1 of reducing transmission power of all frequencies.

The CPU 111-11 performs a step 35-2 of requesting the wireless IF 116-1of the wave signal processing portion to reduce transmission power by apredetermined rate of power reduction. The wireless IF 116-1 performs astep 35-3 of reducing transmission power of all frequencies in responsethereto and performs a step 35-4 of notifying a transmission power valueafter the reduction of transmission power of all frequencies to the CPU111-11.

The CPU 111-11 performs a step 35-5 of determining whether the powervalue notified by the wireless IF 116-1 is the lowest value of thetransmission power or not and, if not, performs the step 35-2 again. Ifthe notified power value reaches the lowest value, the step 34-3 ofending the reduction of transmission power is performed. For example,the CPU 111-11 acknowledges the completion of the processing forreducing the transmission power of all frequencies to the CPU 111-4 ofthe device control portion.

The processing allows a base station to gradually reduce transmissionpower of all frequencies of one sector within the base station andallows to switch a communication path in which a communication serviceis being provided in the base station to one in another sector or anadjacent base station, resulting in a state that no communicationservice is available in the sector within the base station. Thus,software can be upgraded in a module relating to the sector, that is,the sector wave signal processing portion.

The invention is applicable to industries relating to wirelesscommunication apparatus, wireless communication networks and softwareupgrading.

1. A base station apparatus having sectors communicating at multiplerespective frequencies between a wireless terminal and a wiredcommunication network, by using multiple wireless communication pathshaving different frequencies and multiple wireless communication pathsin different sectors within a handover-possible wireless communicationnetwork, the base station apparatus comprising: a wired interface forcommunicating with the wired communication network; multiple wirelessinterfaces, one for each sector, for communicating with the wirelessterminal at multiple frequencies; and multiple communication processingportions, one for each frequency, connected to each of the wirelessinterfaces, respectively, for performing processing for providing acommunication service to a wireless terminal at a predeterminedfrequency through the wireless interface and the wired interface,wherein the base station apparatus is controlled by a control portion,wherein the control portion: (a) selects at least one of multiplefrequencies sequentially and controls the output of transmission wavesof the multiple wireless interfaces for the selected frequency such thata cell covered by the base station apparatus at the selected frequencydoes not overlap with the other cells covered by adjacent base stationapparatuses, thereby causing a handover such that a communication pathin which a communication service is being provided is switched toanother communication path through one of the adjacent base stationapparatuses, upgrades software defined in the communication processingportion in accordance with the selected frequency to first softwarereceived through the wired interface in advance, and returns the outputof the transmission waves to the state existing before the control forthe selected frequency after the software upgrading, and (b) selects atleast one of multiple sectors sequentially and controls the output oftransmission waves of the wireless interface in accordance with theselected sector such that an area covered by the wireless interface inaccordance with the selected sector does not overlap with areas coveredby the wireless interfaces of adjacent sectors, thereby causing ahandover such that a communication path in which a communication serviceis being provided is switched to another communication path through oneof the adjacent sectors, upgrades software defined in the wirelessinterface in accordance with the selected sector to second softwarereceived through the wired interface in advance, and returns the outputof the transmission waves to the state existing before the control forthe selected sector after the software upgrading.